Sunday, January 25, 2009

Shivers and Shakes

So after cruising the southern hemisphere for a while, I had pretty much forgotten what winter was all about.  We've been back in Lincoln less than a week (actually just a weekEND, really) and got quite the rude awakening, but it's been so good to see friends and family.  It'd been much too long.

We've spent the past couple of days setting up house and catching up on old times with old friends.  On Friday I called Time Warner to reconnect our internet service and was told that it would be at least 10 days before they could get around to us.  What a pleasant surprise when I hit Safari for no good reason at all and Google popped up!  I don't know where it's coming from and I don't much care.  It's nice to be back in the groove.

I'll be uploading travel pics to Flickr between now and Wednesday and *ahem* job-hunting as well.  Yay to the former and blech to the latter.

Stay warm, friends.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

At the risk of sounding a bit self-centered, I think the gods are telling me that it's time to cash in my chips (err - pesos) and go home.

It has been raining in Cozumel since we stepped (okay, I lurched - ferries make me nauseous) off the ferry four days ago. I'm bored, and if my spirits are not dampened, then at the very least all of my clothes are.

I'm holding out for the elusive ray-of-sunshine but if that big firey ball doesn't pop up tomorrow morning with a great big Mr. Kool-aid smile, then I will have no choice but to admit defeat, steel my tummy, and head back to the mainland.

But dammit, I really wanted that tan.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Comings and Goings

I had a couple of slightly strange/unsettling experiences yesterday...

The first is that I had a 1200 appointment at La Paz spa for a body wrap. I´ve had them in the past and at different spas, and they were all the same: massage the body with special ´stuff´, wrap, heat for 20 minutes, rinse. But here...well, there was no gentle massaging into the skin, no cocoon-like wrap, no incubating heat, and no rinse! Instead, I was roughly worked over with two very cold oil concoctions and told not to shower for the remainder of the day. The end.

The other is that I thought for about 2 hours that someone had gotten the numbers from my debit card and made fraudulent charges to my account. If this has ever happened to you (and despite my vigilance, it´s happened to me on more than one occasion), then you understand how your tummy flips and your stress levels soar as you contemplate the inconveniences of cancelling your card, closing your old account and opening a new one and trying to negotiate the details from a foreign country where you are temporarily without recourse to your funds. So it was with an immense sigh of relief but also a serious pang of embarassment when I finally got in touch with the bank only to be reminded that I had, in fact, made the purchase in question a few days earlier. Oops.

To shake off the weird vibe of the day, I stopped by a photography exhibition showcasing local artist Patricio Robles Gil and another guy whose name totally escapes me at the moment. The former housed pictures of exotic wildlife, flora and several landscapes and, though the subjects were deserving and the talent was clearly top-notch, I thought it was kind of unremarkable...like blown-up glossies of any edition of National Geographic - gorgeous but a bit commonplace now.

On the other hand, Mr. X´s exhibition, entitled Falsos Reflejos, was an inspired collection of black-and-white pairs of females in the nude, skillfully contorted in graceful poses that mirrored one another at first glance, but on closer inspection were actually slightly different: a left leg crossed instead of a right, palms facing up instead of down. I feel uncomfortable taking photos of photos (unlike paintings), so I´ll have to post an update when I remember the guy´s name and then you can look ém up.

On Wednesday I went to the local artisans´market, where they sell things like wood carvings, woven baskets, textiles and trinkets. Showing what I like to think of as ´great self-restraint´, I left only $10 poorer with a ceramic vase painted in traditional blue and white, some embroidered doilies and a game of loteria, purchased out of nostalgia. I recall playing this game (basically illustrated bingo) in school as a child during the obligatory Spanish lessons of south Texas´public elementary schools. I´m a bit surprised now because some of the cards would probably not go over so well with our present society´s rigid sense of political correctness. Examples:

El Borracho (the drunk) - Illustrated by a disheveled man holding a liquor bottle.
El Diablito (the little devil) - The infamous red body, forked tail, horns and pitchfork.
La Sirena (the mermaid) - Bare breasts for 8-9 year olds?
El Negrito (the little black man, apparently) - Depicted in severely mismatched clothing, wearing a straw hat and carrying a cane. Um, okay...

But I still think it´s fun so I´m going back today to buy one for my kid sister, who turned 7 yesterday.

Tomorrow we board the 0600 bus outta here, so more in a few days...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

An Unexpected Paradise

So, 2009 finds us waaaay down south in sun-drenched Mexico. We arrived in Mexico City on 29 December and spent the next few days in the zocalo, meandering through the crowded streets and ducking into galleries and museums whenever we came across them. For all its hype as a veritable black hole of violent crime, we had an uneventful travel experience that included many rides on the subway and even a late-night excursion on New Year´s Eve. For a city of such magnitude (population somewhere in the vicinity of 20 million), it still retains its old-world style and charm. You cannot walk more than two blocks without coming across a church that will damn near take your breath away. Go ahead. I dare you to try. We ventured out to Teotihuacan one afternoon for a tour of the ruins and temples there. It was perfect for a day trip and also whet our appetite for Chichen Itza, which we´ll hit up in about a week.

On the very 1st of January, we took a bus out to the colonial town of Valle de Bravo. And this is where I sit now, writing of unexpected paradise. Mountainous, green and situated around a sparkling lake, this little city is a happy place. A haven for paragliding folks, the town is currently hosting one competition and preparing for the World Championships at the end of this month. My hubby is in a state of bliss and while he is soaring through the clouds, I am fully grounded and falling in love with the narrow cobblestone streets, the perpetually festive atmosphere, and the yummy tortas from Cafe El Torton next to our inn.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon hiking through the surrounding forest to witness the migration of the monarch butterflies, who come here in droves to complete their cycle of life and death. The air was thick with busy scurrying and the orange of their wings was luminous in the sun.

We divide our meal time evenly between restaurants and street vendors and have not been disappointed yet. Around the corner from our cozy little room at Posada Mary is a short street dubbed Taco Alley. The second cart on the left makes a deviantly delicious choriqueso taco. You simply can´t have just one, and for only 10 pesos each (roughly 75 cents) why would you??

By the by, the weather is marvelous and the people are wonderfully warm and friendly.

Though we´re in no hurry to go, our itinerary has us heading off to the Yucatan on the 10th. We´ve never been to Cozumel and 2009 seems as good a time as any to change that.